


Virtually Friends

by Daegaer



Category: Weiß Kreuz
Genre: Assassins, Blackmail, Entrapment, Gen, Hacking, Online Predation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-02
Updated: 2005-08-02
Packaged: 2017-10-23 05:10:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/246599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Daegaer/pseuds/Daegaer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nagi and Omi meet online. References to on-line predation on children. Thank you to Louise Lux for the beta-reading!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Virtually Friends

  
_I'm not wearing any panties_ , Nagi typed, an uncharacteristic grin on his face. He sat back, waiting for the badly-spelled reply, floating another can of Coke over to his hand. He drank deeply, the keys depressing themselves rapidly. _I_ am _touching myself there. What are you doing?_ He rolled his eyes at the response.

"Eight centimetres, more like," he muttered. Time to crush this moron.

"Nagi! Get off the damn line!" Crawford yelled.

"I want broadband!" he yelled back.

"Off!"

"Two minutes!"

 _I have to go_ , he typed quickly. _My dad wants to use the phone. I really like you, Andreas. Will you be on-line later_? He smirked at the reply, hastily and inexpertly typed. _I don't know_ , he typed. _I mightn't be able to get away tomorrow. I have a lot of homework. Could we meet on Thursday instead?_ He nodded in satisfaction at the response, and managed to get his goodbye typed and get himself logged-off the chat room before Crawford came in.

"Other people need to use the line, you know," Crawford said irritably.

"Sorry," Nagi said in a tone that meant just the opposite. "When can we move to somewhere with broadband?"

"After the current job, you know that," Crawford said. "What were you doing?"

"Nothing much," Nagi said. "I'm going to go over the blueprints of the building for tomorrow. Let me know when the line's free again."

"When was the last time you took any exercise?" Crawford grumbled. "I should order you off to combat training."

Nagi raised a lazy hand and the letter knife on his desk lifted itself up, then drove itself into the wood up to the hilt.

"Why bother?" he said.

Crawford snorted with dry laughter and left. Nagi stretched and thought briefly about another Coke before deciding his teeth had been put under enough sugar-stress already. He pulled up the scans of the blueprints, just in case Crawford suddenly came back, then opened the file on his dear little "Andreas." Whose real name was Johann, and who was thirty-three years older than the fourteen year-old boy he pretended to be. The important thing, as far as Nagi was concerned, was that besides being a pervert loser, Johann owned his own home and all the effects left to him by his deceased mother. By the end of the month, they'd all be Nagi's. He briefly thought about anonymously tipping off the police once he'd bled Johann dry. The pervert's house had a nice, overgrown garden - who knew what was buried there?

"Screw it," Nagi said. "The little shits should have been more careful who they talked to on-line."

  


* * * 

  
Omi grimaced in distaste at the utter _filth_ appearing on his screen. It was disgusting, abhorrent perversion, and he was going to make sure the man behind it was stopped. As soon as he got enough information, he'd be going hunting.

 _Oh, I_ do _like puppies!_ he typed. _I really wish Daddy'd got me a puppy for my birthday. I wish I could see your dog's puppies._ He frowned at the response. _It was my thirteenth birthday_ , he answered. _I'm thirteen and two months._ That was a good touch, he thought. Kids were precise about their ages. _Sure you can have my email address._ He got mail almost immediately, warning him not to show it to his parents. He winced at the picture that appeared on the screen. Ugh. Would a real thirteen year old girl be impressed? Presumably the man thought so. _Gosh_ , Omi typed. _Wow_.

"Hey, Omi!" Ken called, bouncing down the stairs. "I'm thinking about ordering in some dinner, want to share -- _shit_. What's all this?"

"Work," Omi said. He looked up at Ken pleadingly. "Don't say anything to the others, OK? It's not an official mission. Not yet, anyway."

"We can't do unofficial missions," Ken said, shocked. "That'd make us no more than murderers!"

Omi looked at him seriously. It always astounded him how innocent Ken could be. "Ken-kun," he said, "you know we get sent after different sorts of criminals than this. This - monster - and others like him are hurting children. You don't want that, do you?"

"No," Ken said decisively. "I won't say anything, Omi." He paused, then hurried on, "And I'll help you, if you want."

"Thanks, Ken!" Omi said, dredging up a bright smile. "For now, how about that dinner? I'm starving! Anything you want is fine with me." He managed to keep the smile up till Ken had gone upstairs again. It was a good thing Ken hadn't seen the _really_ bad stuff, he thought. Not everyone had as strong a stomach as he did. _Sorry, I had to go to the bathroom, but I'm back now! Oh, I'd love to see you, but I don't know if I'll be let come to meet you,_ he typed, seeing the repeated queries. He let himself be persuaded, slowly and gradually.

"Oh, I'll meet you, all right," he muttered.

  


* * *

  
Nagi lay back, watching the shadows move on the ceiling. He was unutterably bored, as he usually was in America. Takatori had loaned them to a business contact; they'd quickly found their temporary employer was an idiot who vacillated about having his rival removed, and was now paying them to sit on their hands. Crawford had a continual headache from stopping Schuldig doing something stupid, Farfarello was drawing a map of all the churches in the locality and the best route between them, and Nagi was being left to his own devices. At least this place had broadband.

New toys would help, he thought, and swung his feet off the bed. Besides, it was just plain fun to find some low-life and show them what a real life of crime looked like. He opened up his laptop and ran down his list of chat rooms. Girl or boy, girl or boy? he thought. A coin flipped itself. He glanced over. Girl it was, then. He looked at the clock and frowned. It was the middle of the night, not a great time to go looking for local perverts in kiddie chat rooms. And it would be too much work to go after someone in Europe. Japan, he thought. Crawford promised Takatori wanted them in Tokyo next.

He was quickly in an inane discussion about movies and music, IMing various people and dropping them when they seemed to be real kids. _It's so hot here,_ he typed. _My folks are too mean to get air conditioning, it's so stupid I have to sit round in my underwear!_ As he'd suspected, that got some interest. First task: weed out the thirteen year old boys. Nagi was quite sure he'd never been so stupid at thirteen. Second task: weed out the thirteen year old girls. He wasn't interested in commiserations about the heat and squealing about whoever was currently top of the charts. That left him with a couple of hopefuls. He got down to the serious business of looking like an early teen just dying to be taught some life lessons.

  


* * *

  
Omi regretted going on-line. He had a lot of homework, and a shift in the shop, but Ken had been dropping hints for days about "special projects" and "extra cleaning duty". Finally, in an effort to shut him up before Yohji and Aya caught on, Omi started haunting chat rooms again. He should never have told Ken, he realised. It was alarming how he got caught up in things. Omi took a bite from his snack and chewed, thinking hard. Ken _liked_ violence. He'd enjoyed their private mission far too much. That was worrying. Omi'd have to do something about that. He just had to decide what.

This chat room wasn't any good, he thought. It seemed to be all actual kids -- wait a minute. Someone was fishing. _Hello_ , he typed. _I'm melting too! My computer's down in the basement - it's like an oven!_ He was IMed almost immediately, with innocent questions about his tastes in music and film stars. _I like American bands,_ he answered. He frowned at the quick reply. This person typed awfully quickly and with impeccable spelling. The tone of the replies was still innocent, yet somehow -- off. This, Omi thought, was an adult pretending to be a child. Well, well, he thought. It would probably take a day or two before "Hanako" started showing what Omi was sure were his true colours. It wouldn't hurt to keep an eye on this. If he strung it out long enough Ken might stop annoying him, and concentrate on their official missions.

 _I just want to float around in a pool all day_ , Omi typed. _Do you like swimming, Hanako?_ The answer was immediate and enthusiastic. Omi smiled.

  


* * *

  
"Hey, who's this "Kozue" girl?" Schuldig asked innocently.

"Get out of my chair," Nagi said. Honestly, he thought, he couldn't even take a leak without someone nosing round his belongings.

"I'm just looking out for you," Schuldig said, reluctantly getting up. "That's an awful lot of talk about bikinis." He leaned heavily on Nagi's shoulder, peering at the screen, and laughing when Nagi pulled up a calming screensaver of fish. "You should try getting out occasionally, meeting a real girl rather than a virtual one."

"Yeah, yeah," Nagi muttered, "like any of us have time for girlfriends."

Schuldig sighed. "Yeah," he said overly-mournfully. "We really should schedule our time better. I'll take it up with our esteemed leader." He ruffled Nagi's hair and strolled off, pausing by the door with a grin. "I'll just bring you some tissues, shall I?"

"Don't deplete your personal stock," Nagi said absently.

"I'll look in on you later, see how you're doing," Schuldig leered. "I think you may be a very naughty girl, Hanako."

Nagi gave him an irritated look, and pushed him out the door more gently than he deserved. It didn't matter, he thought, secure behind the shields he'd years ago learned to construct. Schuldig would just think it was teenage hormones and experimentation. Nagi flicked a glance at the door and the key turned in the lock. It wouldn't stop anyone from entering if they really wanted to, but it would give him a second or two to hide his activities. He didn't think he'd get any trouble from the others over his hobby, at least not if he covered his tracks from outside notice, but it was best not to tempt fate. He turned back to the screen. Kozue was proving interesting. "Her" inane drivel and conversation at times had him convinced he was dealing with a real teenage girl, but he was finding it difficult to track down her details. Kozue was far too wary and experienced for a normal kid. Nagi suspected a further trail of bait was needed.

 _Hey, Kozue_ , he typed, _do you have any piercings?_ He shook his head over the boring response. _Just your ears? Guess what?! I got my belly-button pierced! My dad will_ freak, _if I ever tell him. Want to see a picture?_

"Of _course_ you do," he murmured in satisfaction when the answer came. He paged quickly through his files to find the perfect picture, and sent it off. "Happy handjob, loser," he muttered. He could hardly wait to get to Japan.

  


* * *

  
"I thought you said you were tracking another one of those perverts down?" Ken said, peering at the screen and paging through the chat. "That's just a little girl! Is it all just that stuff about pop singers and fashion? That's a real kid!"

"Sometimes I think so," Omi said, tapping his finger against the desk. "But she's -- I don't know, she's just wrong somehow."

"You said the last guy was sending you naked pictures and getting you to talk about sex - is that what this one's doing?"

"No," Omi said. "Some stuff about actors she thinks are cute, a couple of silly questions about who I like. Some pictures that don't reveal much other than a love of sparkly clothes. That sort of thing. But she just seems to be too good at covering her tracks. I can't find anything useful about her."

"Maybe her dad's a programmer. Maybe he's got good security software. She's a kid," Ken said. "Find someone else." He scowled at the screen. "We could be doing some real good here, and you're swapping eye-shadow tips? Come _on_ , Omi."

"I've been reconsidering. I bet I could get a lot of information on a whole lot of people - if I got enough Kritiker would see it as important. Let's turn this stuff over to Manx, and see if Persia assigns it as an official mission," Omi said. As he'd suspected, Ken wasn't pleased.

"Hey, you're the one who came up with this extra-curricular activity. We can handle this ourselves, Omi! Just, just get a move on, OK?"

"OK, Ken-kun," Omi murmured, watching as Ken stamped irritably back up the stairs. He'd really have to think of something to do with Ken, and soon. He turned back to the screen, where Hanako's fast, impeccable typing was flickering, and stared at it glumly. It really sucked that when Hanako wasn't fishing for sleaze she seemed easier to talk to than Omi's own team mates. He paused, then started typing. _Is your brother still giving you grief, Hanako? Mine's been acting so weird, it's like he's angry all the time. He's not like he used to be. It's pretty sad._ Commiserations popped up immediately, adorned with frowny faces. _I can't talk to my parents about it_ , Omi typed, thinking that Kritiker would probably see Ken's rage as a good thing. It didn't matter that he was saying this, he decided. It wasn't as if Hanako knew anything about Ken, and he was going to kill the pervert anyway. It just felt good to tell _someone_. He turned the conversation to lighter topics, and soon Hanako was fishing again: more stuff about clothes, and questions about whether or not Kozue wore a bra. "You are _not_ a kid," Omi said, typing. _Elastic makes me so itchy in this weather! I kind of miss not having to wear one, you know? Yeah, it's nice just to take it off! Actually, give me a sec, that's a good idea right now!_ He sat back comfortably.

"You're not as smart as you think you are, Hanako," he said.

  


* * *

  
"Who _are_ you?" Nagi muttered, grimacing as he discovered his tea had gone cold. "You have awfully good security, Kozue." He stood and stretched, thinking he couldn't manage one more round of girly conversation. Relaxing though it was to bitch about his dear "elder brothers", it wasn't getting Kozue to open up in the way he wanted. Nagi yawned and rubbed the back of his neck wearily. Kozue was far too reserved, he thought. Any other pervert would have been picking up all the underwear talk and running with it, sending Nagi tons of lovely blackmail material. He hunted round his room till he found the last of the American chocolate, and paused as he bit into it. Maybe Kozue was a kid after all, or maybe --

"You're a _cop_ ," he breathed. "You're a fucking cop."

He sat back down, tossing the rest of the chocolate to one side. He was sure of it, suddenly. Some stupid cop hunting molesters, getting in on Nagi's profitable territory. He should tell Crawford, he thought. It wasn't like he'd get into trouble. They all had their little interests and distractions, and he was sure Kozue hadn't been able to find out anything useful about him. Maybe Crawford would say to keep this up, and see if they could find something to hold over Kozue. It'd be handy to have influence over a detective. Nagi frowned. Who was he kidding? Crawford would tell him to back off, and Schuldig would tease him and make him feel like a kid. What he needed was to finish this off, and hand Kozue over to Crawford, gift wrapped and with a ribbon tied around her neck. If it was a _fait accompli_ the others would have to accept it. All he had to do was keep calm, and not do anything that would trigger their suspicions, or Crawford's precognition.

"Let's get you good and interested," he smirked.

 _Hey, Kozue, can I ask you something? When you think about a boy you like, do you ever, you know, touch yourself?_

  


* * *

Omi hunched over his keyboard, his feeling of triumph fighting with his revulsion. He had _known_ he was right about Hanako. The questions and details were getting more and more disgusting. He supposed she was getting more and more sure she'd caught Kozue's interest.

"Don't get off-line, don't get off-line," Omi muttered, as yet another attempt to discover where Hanako had secreted herself failed. "Tell me something _useful_!" Maybe he should see if he could get the pervert to ring him, if he could find some way of sounding like a teenage girl. Maybe he could ask one of the schoolgirls that came into the shop for help, and -- "Great idea, Omi," he muttered. "Put her on the phone with this creature, or maybe just record some phrases to play at him? "Oh, I'd never thought of doing _that_ with a cucumber!" Yeah, _great_ idea."

 _You bought a_ vibrator _?! Your mother will kill you! . . . What's it like? I don't know how to use a vibrator_ , he typed, wincing at the thought of what was about to appear on his screen. He got more information than he thought he'd ever want, and a pink sparkly picture. At least he hadn't had to look at a picture of the damn thing in use, he thought. He grimly read through line after line of just how much Hanako liked her purchase, replying with only as much detail as didn't make him want to throw up. _I've never put anything inside, is it nice?_ he typed, unfocusing his eyes slightly as the reply came back.

Omi got up from the computer and walked back and forth across the basement, breathing hard. For a moment Ken's continual anger seemed like a perfectly good response to life. He was going to find Hanako, he was going to make her pay for all this, he was going to make sure she never, ever corrupted another child. He sat back down and flexed his fingers. He had to keep this pervert's interest, keep real children safe.

 _I really like you, Hanako. I'm so glad we're friends._

  


* * *

  
"And that's all you get from me tonight," Nagi said, smirking as he read over the more and more explicit messages from Kozue. "Sweet dreams." _Night night, Kozue! I'll be sure to dream about you!_

He moved from the computer to his bed, sighing as his back muscles relaxed. After a while he got restless, thinking of how further to keep Kozue interested and pull her into a snare. He needed a break, he thought, and went out to the living room. Crawford and Schuldig were watching some crappy late night black and white film, Farfarello was arranging playing cards on the table. Nagi pottered round, dividing his attention between the television and the game of solitaire.

"That looks really rubbish," he said.

"It's artistic," Schuldig said, at the same time that Crawford said,

"It _is_ rubbish. Schuldig thinks "art movie" means "porn". He's showing more patience than I'd have expected."

"For your information, I have a wide and varied taste in cinema," Schuldig said amicably.

"How so? You don't care what the naked girls look like from the shoulders up?" Nagi said slyly.

"Ha ha. How's Kozue these days?"

Nagi scowled and went to look over Farfarello's shoulder, ignoring Schuldig's explanation to Crawford about internet girlfriends.

"Red eight on black nine," he said.

"I don't actually need the help," Farfarello said, as he put the eight on the nine. "There's another pack in the sideboard, if you really want to play a game."

"No," Nagi said, bored at the mere thought. "I'll just have a shower and go to bed."

"The hot water's off," Crawford said.

"He's been chatting with his girlfriend," Schuldig grinned. "He probably needs a cold shower."

Nagi rolled his eyes. "One of these days I'm going to flatten you so thin I'll be able to roll you up afterwards," he grumbled, with no real heat.

Schuldig blew him a kiss as he left the room.

  


* * *

  
"Ken! Dammit, my _project!_ " Omi said, rushing back to the computer.

"I'm looking at it now," Ken said, scrolling down. "Nice work, looks like you got him to come out of the woodwork."

"My _homework_ ," Omi said. "I'm meant to turn in a geography assignment tomorrow. You'd better have saved it."

"I'm sure I did," Ken said, looking a little guilty. "Have you found where this low-life is yet?"

"No," Omi said shortly. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm busy." He tugged Ken out of the chair. "We can find him some other time," he said, not liking the impatient set to Ken's face. "He's not going to do anything, Ken. He's too fixed on getting me."

"You know that, do you?" Ken said. "Suppose you're not the only one he's talking to?"

Omi gave Ken his best assured look. "We'll do this tomorrow, OK? I'm sure he's going to ask to meet me very soon. Look, get some rest while you can, Manx rang. She's going to come over later, and I really need to get my homework finished before she gets here."

"Why don't you just drop out?" Ken said, finally going.

He didn't wait for an answer. Omi sat silently, looking blankly at the screen. Then he opened his project, relieved Ken had indeed saved it.

"No dropping out allowed," he whispered, and got down to work. "Not _now_ ," he said a moment later, seeing that someone was IMing him.

He took a look. _Hi, Hanako_ , he typed. _Can't talk, I've got homework._ He blinked as the offer to help came back. As long as it was maths. _Nope, it's geography. Talk to you later, OK? Bye._ He worked on for another forty minutes before deciding his homework was as done as it was going to get. Maybe Ken was right, he thought. While he was writing stuff about the economy of foreign countries, Hanako was off seducing real kids. He sent off a quick message. _Hey! You there?_ The response wasn't instantaneous, which worried him. He wasn't used to anything but Hanako's complete attention. _Hanako?_ Nothing.

He got up and stretched. He might as well tidy up for when Manx arrived. One last try, he thought. _Hey, Earth to Hanako!_ Still no answer. He shoved his books back into his bag and piled the dirty cups up at the end of the stairs for him to take up to the kitchen. He still had a few minutes, he realised, and sat down again. _Hanako, I want to talk to you._

His computer beeped, and the reply flashed up. He shook his head. It had been so hot and sticky that Hanako had needed an intricately described shower. _I usually just jump in and out again,_ he typed as Hanako asked him what he did in the shower. _I'm a busy girl! I have a friend coming round soon, so I can't stay on. I just wanted to talk for a bit._

A convoluted tale of Hanako's day filled the screen: mishaps at school, a fight with an elder brother, what she'd had for lunch, the horrible homework she was avoiding. It was all suddenly very innocent.

"You're just messing with me now," Omi said in annoyance. He logged off as he heard Manx start down the stairs.

All through the briefing, Ken stared at him meaningfully.

  


* * *

"Don't cut me off like that, moron," Nagi said. Huh. Kozue wasn't answering his messages. Fine. It didn't mean anything. His security was too good, they couldn't have found him. The police security on the other hand -- Nagi flicked through the information he'd found, wondering which of the detectives was his dear Kozue. It didn't matter. Soon they'd belong to him. Maybe more than one of them -- his research showed one of them was likely cheating on his taxes, three of them were cheating on their wives and husbands and one of them, a divorced woman, was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy because of the medical expenses for a disabled child. Nagi hoped she wasn't Kozue -- she was probably so desperate that she'd willingly be another informant for Schwarz if she was given regular pay-outs.

"Why is _your_ security so good, when I can waltz through the official stuff?" Nagi mused. "You _are_ a cop, aren't you?" He thought about it. Maybe Kozue wasn't a cop any more - retired perhaps, maybe a private detective. With contacts, perhaps, who knew a hell of a lot about disguising electronic tracks. He needed to know more than the vague area where Kozue was. He propped his chin in his hands and watched a pen doodle on a notepad. Walk away, he thought. It was taking too much time, and there were more profitable fish to fry. It was just so _irritating_ to have someone else's computer security beat him.

"Damn it, you should be begging to get hold of me," Nagi said. "It looks like I'll have to be the one to send out the invitation." He began to think of good areas to meet, his eyes never leaving the pen drawing spirals and swirls on the paper.

  


* * *

  
Omi licked his lips and nodded in satisfaction. Hanako wanted to meet. She had a day of shopping and ice creams all planned out and wanted only Kozue's company to make it perfect.

 _I dunno_ , he typed. _My dad always says people on the internet might be murderers! You're not a murderer, are you, Hanako?_ "Are you?" Omi said. "Have you taken that step?" _Just kidding! OK! Where do you want to meet? What'll we do first?_

He mentally compiled a list of equipment as Hanako's meaningless answer scrolled up the screen. Killing someone in daytime, in a public place, demanded some sort of care. Fast-acting poison on a dart, he thought, one quick throw, retrieve the dart and get out of there. It would be fast and easy. He could even take Ken along -- he wouldn't do anything obvious in public, and it would stop him annoying Omi all the time. And with a bit of encouragement, Omi thought, Manx could have plenty of official missions for them. Soon Ken wouldn't have the energy for anything else. He said his goodbyes to Hanako, shut down the computer, and climbed back up to the shop.

"Hey, Ken," he said cheerfully. "Could I have a word? About the accounts?"

Aya and Yohji's faces went blank and bored. Ken came over, looking worried.

"You know, petrol's gone up -- it's not my fault we need to charge more for deliveries --"

"It's OK, Ken-kun," Omi said. "I just want to go over a couple of things with you. Let's grab a coffee, huh?"

  


* * *

  
Nagi looked at his reflection. He looked young and harmless, just a schoolkid out wandering around. He put his wallet and phone in a backpack, checked a final time that he looked unremarkable, and left his room. He should tell someone where he was going, he thought. Maybe he should tell Crawford what he'd been doing.

No one else was around. Wait, he heard someone in the kitchen. He went in and found Farfarello glaring at the kettle with deep loathing, as if the force of his annoyance would make it boil faster.

"I'm going out," Nagi said.

"OK," Farfarello said, just an acknowledgment that Nagi had spoken.

"Will Crawford or Schuldig be back soon?"

"I don't know," Farfarello said, suddenly paying attention. "Why? D'you need them?"

"No. I just wondered," Nagi said.

"Where are you going?"

"Out," Nagi shrugged. He had a horrible feeling Farfarello might invite himself along. Crawford and Schuldig might take him along if they needed a fighter, but Nagi thought he'd work better alone. The idea of Farfarello suddenly taking an interest in a building full of shoppers was enticing, but not what Nagi wanted or needed.

"You're going to be OK?" he asked, belatedly wondering if he hadn't been paying attention to Crawford earlier, and Farfarello needed supervision that day.

Farfarello looked at him sceptically. "What am I, a baby? Go on, go and rob your bank, or whatever you're up to. I'll try not to cause myself too much damage before you get back." He grinned horribly at Nagi's expression. "Out! I'm fine."

Nagi left, and made his way to the rendezvous point, wondering if he should have asked Farfarello along after all. There could be several cops, or other friends of Kozue, ready and waiting.

"That's why I need to look like a boring kid," he reminded himself, and slipped into the coffee shop opposite the ice cream stand an hour before the appointed time. He'd just wait, and if things looked too difficult, he'd leave. He got a coffee and settled down, pulling a book from his backpack, the very picture of a studious schoolboy, flicking an occasional glance around that told him the number of kids was increasing as schools finished up. There was a lone young girl buying ice-cream. He wondered if she was bait Kozue hoped he'd take.

Everything was going to plan until he saw one of Weiß lurking in the clothes shop on the other side of the ice-cream stand. Hidaka, he thought, carefully looking round to see where the others might be. He saw some kids laughing and pushing each other around by a potted tree, and reached out and made it crash over. He hoped Weiß would think the kids were responsible, even if only for a few seconds. Hidaka looked out, curiously, and Nagi suddenly saw Tsukiyono trying to look casual. There was no sign of the others.

Time to go, Nagi thought, and left the coffee shop as quietly as possible. He thought he'd made it when the outraged yell came from behind him.

"Schwarz! Hold it, you bastard!"

Nagi turned to see Hidaka running at him, weapon already out.

"Fuck," he snarled, and threw a hand up.

Hidaka went down and slid backwards several metres. "Bombay!" he yelled, staggering up, "It's Schwarz!"

"Shut up!" Nagi hissed, and flung him into a wall. At the last moment Hidaka shielded his head with his arms. He was annoyingly conscious, but Nagi didn't think he'd be attacking anyone for the next few hours at least.

"Siberian!" Tsukiyono wailed, and flung darts towards Nagi.

Pathetic, Nagi thought, letting them all hit the barrier he instantaneously created. He still couldn't see the rest of Weiß, and couldn't risk staying any longer, he knew. He ran, hearing fast footsteps behind him.

Shit, he thought. Crawford was going to _kill_ him.

  


* * *

  
Omi flung another dart at his fleeing enemy, feeling wild fury as it veered off sharply and was lost. Another freak, he thought. Ahead of him, the crowd parted abruptly before his target, and people staggered into his way as if being violently shoved. His enemy wasn't headed for a main exit, he realised. Then there was no one ahead of him but the boy, sprinting straight for an emergency exit. The doors flung themselves open and the alarms started. From the shouts of the security personnel Omi heard, it seemed to be a perfect sign blaring "Here be delinquent teenagers". He hoped Ken had had enough energy to get out of the place.

Jumping wildly over the bags of rubbish that suddenly rolled into his path, Omi let himself feel a small thrill of satisfaction as his enemy ran down a laneway. Omi followed to find him staring at the high blank wall at the end. He took a good look at the boy; he'd never had a clear look at Schwarz's fourth member before, and was surprised by how young the boy was - younger than Omi himself, he realised, with a serious face and awkwardly adolescent arms and legs. Reminding himself that appearances were very deceptive when it came to Schwarz, Omi readied for a fight.

"You can't _all_ jump that high," he said, palming another set of darts.

"Maybe I don't have to," the boy said, lifting a hand towards the wall.

"What are you going to do, shove it aside?" Omi said, sidling forward.

He got a cold glare of dislike. "Shut up, _Kozue_."

Omi stopped dead and stared at him. "What did you say?" he said, his eyes wide.

"You're not quite the forty-something pervert I was expecting," the boy said, glaring at him.

" _Hanako?_ You're Hanako?" Omi said. "But --"

"What? I'm not as pretty as you imagined?"

Omi found himself at a loss for words, and then suddenly very angry. He'd put in so much work, and it was all for nothing, just ending up with a bratty kid - with _Schwarz_ \- facing him down smugly.

"You've wasted my time! Do you think this is funny? Where are the rest of you?"

"You've wasted _my_ time; I'm beginning to see the humorous side of it; none of your business," the boy said in a flat and unpleasant tone.

"You bastard," Omi said. "I've put all this work in and it was you all along? What are you people up to? Are you luring children off to meet you?"

"What?" the boy said, and sounded genuinely surprised. "Don't be so stupid, Weiß."

"Why else would you be hanging round kids' chat rooms pretending to be a girl?" Omi snarled.

"Why were _you_ doing it, Kozue?"

Omi blinked. "Do you seriously expect me to believe you were trying to flush out perverts?"

"Yes," the boy said, his face and voice open and honest.

  


* * *

  
Tsukiyono looked like Nagi had just dropped the wall on his head. Which wasn't a bad idea, Nagi thought, if the idiot gave him any trouble. It was good to have guessed right - Weiß kept as far from the police as did Schwarz, and Hidaka didn't seem the type to pass himself off as a girl. Nagi had a sudden and intoxicating thought. Crawford would have quite liked an inside man in the police - how much more would he like an inside man in Weiß?

"I track the sickos down, and get them to meet me," he said, watching Tsukiyono carefully.

"Why?" Tsukiyono said.

"So I can ask them to have their wicked way with me," Nagi snapped. "Why do _you_ do it? No, don't bother answering, your arsenal of weapons gives me a pretty good idea." He smirked. "I'm more efficient, I don't need to be armed."

"But you're criminals," Tsukiyono said, his voice rising annoyingly.

"We're respectable people with a respectable employer," Nagi said with malice. "And if _you_ can hunt down these perverts, why can't I?" He strove to keep just the right amount of amused superiority on his face. Crawford said it was important Weiß stayed alive for the present, and while it would be instructive for Tsukiyono to see him knock the wall down, Nagi didn't want to give away too much about himself at the moment. "I don't like child molestors," he said. "I don't care if you believe me. I'm good at spotting someone who's just pretending to be a kid. Like you."

"I spotted you, didn't I?" Tsukiyono muttered. "You really hunt them down?" he said plaintively.

"Yes," Nagi said with absolute truthfulness. "I really do."

"What about the rest of you?"

"This is something I do myself," Nagi said.

Tsukiyono put away his darts. "How come we're sort of on the same side?" he said.

Nagi did not smile with triumph. "I guess we must share a common core of decency," he said dryly. "Even hardened killers like you don't have to like the idea of kids getting messed with."

Tsukiyono looked vaguely offended. "Sometimes I thought you really were a precocious kid," he said. "Well, more of a one than you really are, I mean."

"You make a convincing girl," Nagi retaliated.

Tsukiyono surprised him by laughing. "We sound like a couple of students being rude to someone from a rival school," he said. "Truce? For the moment?"

"OK," Nagi said hesitantly, stamping down his feeling of accomplishment. Tsukiyono was looking more cheerful and a bit less guarded. "Sorry about your friend, I was just trying to leave quietly."

"Yeah," Tsukiyono said. "I should get back to check on him. Listen, are you going to keep this stuff up?"

"Probably," Nagi said. "Do you have an objection?"

"No," Tsukiyono said, as if coming to a decision. "I don't. The more of these bastards we get rid of the better. If that takes sharing the field with you, that's all right. But we should keep this between ourselves. We don't involve the rest of our teams."

"Agreed," Nagi said easily. He wondered if Tsukiyono was trying to build nice little links, if he thought he was going to be the one getting an inside man on the opposite team. He hoped Tsukiyono _was_ that stupid. It'd make Nagi's job easier.

"Hey," Tsukiyono said, "my name's Om--"

"Hold on," Nagi said. "We should use codenames - you don't want to slip up with your team. What's wrong with Kozue and Hanako?"

"Ke-- my teammate knows those names. We can pick new ones, if you like," Tsukiyono said.

Nagi nodded solemnly, laughing inside at how eager the other boy had suddenly become. He wanted to be _liked_ , Nagi saw. Stupid, he thought. So very stupid.

"Go back to your friend," he said. "He'll wonder where you are."

"Yeah," Tsukiyono said, stepping back. "See you around."

"Plenty of chat rooms," Nagi said. "Bye, Kozue."

Tsukiyono grinned. "Bye, Hanako. Nice to meet you."

Nagi watched him go, and waited a careful couple of minutes before leaving the alley. He grinned suddenly, planning out the future. Nice to meet you too, Tsukiyono Omi, he thought. I have some lovely garden paths to lead you along. Laughing quietly, he began to jog away.

He could hardly wait to tell the others.


End file.
